Showing papers by "University of Western Australia published in 1977"

The prevalence of minor psychiatric morbidity in the community.

Abstract: The method is described of a point-prevalence survey of minor psychiatric morbidity among a sample of healthy community residents. The General Health Questionnaire was used as the sole means of case identification. The demographic characteristics of the sample were compared in detail with those of the total population. The factors mainly responsible for sample bias were difficulty with the English language, the varying degree of personal contact made with residents, and the difficulty in contacting the employed population during working hours. The overall response rate of the survey was 66-2%. The demographic groups found to be at significantly higher risk for minor psychiatric morbidity included women, the young, non-British migrant women, and lower social class men.

Nutrition of a Developing Legume Fruit Functional Economy in Terms of Carbon, Nitrogen, Water

Abstract: The economy of functioning of the developing fruit of white lupin ( Lupinus albus L.) is assessed quantitatively in relation to intake and usage of carbon, nitrogen, and water. Of every 100 units of carbon imported from the parent plant, 52 are incorporated into seeds, 37 into nonmobilizable material of the pod, and the remaining 11 lost as CO 2 to the atmosphere. An illuminated fruit can make net gains of CO 2 from the atmosphere during the photoperiods of all but the last 2 weeks of its life, suggesting that it is active in assimilation of CO 2 respired from pods and seeds. This conservation activity is important to carbon economy. Phloem supplies 98% of the fruit9s carbon and 89% of its nitrogen. Most of the xylem9s contribution enters early in development. Xylem and phloem supply similar sets of amino compounds, amides predominating. Ninety-six per cent of the fruit9s nitrogen becomes incorporated into seeds. Sixteen per cent of the seed9s nitrogen is mobilized from the senescing pod. The transpiration ratio of the fruit is 22.5 ml per gram dry matter accumulated. Xylem supplies 60% of a fruit9s total water requirement and the equivalent of two-thirds of its transpiration loss. Phloem becomes prominent as a water donor once the seeds start to fill. The fruit exhibits a 31% conversion by weight of organic imports into food reserves of seeds. This entails an intake through vascular channels of 1756 mg sucrose and 384 mg amino compounds and an accumulation in seeds of 412 mg protein, 132 mg oil, and 110 mg perchloric acid-soluble carbohydrate.

The role of endocytosis in transferrin uptake by reticulocytes and bone marrow cells.

Abstract: Summary. The aims of the work described in this paper were to investigate the process by which transferrin enters immature erythroid cells, to determine whether entry of transferrin into the cells is required for iron utilization by the cells and to see whether substances in the medium surrounding the cells enter the cells along with transferrin. The kxperiments were performed using rabbit transferrin, rabbit reticulocytes and rabbit bone marrow cell suspensions. The process of transferrin uptake was studied by electron microscope techniques using autoradiography of 125I-labelled transferrin or transferrin conjugated to ferritin or horseradish per-oxidase. The results confirmed that transferrin enters reticulocytes and showed that the protein also enters nucleated erythroid cells of the bone marrow but very little is taken up by platelets, cells of the white cell series in the bone marrow or peripheral blood or mature erythrocytes. The two stages of transferrin uptake by erythroid cells, initial absorption and progressive uptake, were shown to be represented morphologically by binding of transferrin to the outer cell membrane, probably to specific receptors, and entry into the cells by endocytosis, respectively. Reticulocytes were unable to utilize 59Fe for haem synthesis when the 59Fe was on transferrin which was bound to agarose, Enzacryl AA or Latex beads so that it would not enter the cells. The uptake of transferrin by reticulocytes was not accompanied by uptake of 14C-polyethylene glycol dissolved in the medium.

Utilization of net photosynthate for nitrogen fixation and protein production in an annual legume.

Abstract: The economy of C and N in nodulated cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.) was described in terms of fixation of CO 2 and N 2 , respiratory losses of C, and the production of dry matter and protein. Net daytime gain of C by the shoot (net photosynthesis) rose to a maximum at flowering and then declined sharply due to abscission of leaves. Maximum N fixation occurred 10 days prior to maximum net photosynthesis. Shedding of nodules reduced fixation to zero by midfruiting. Fifty per cent of the plant9s N and 37% of its net photosynthate were assimilated before flowering; 39% of plant N was incorporated into seed dry matter. Respiration of nodules and roots utilized 24% of the C from net photosynthate assimilated over the growth cycle; night respiration of shoots, 20%; dry matter production in seeds, 17%; and dry matter production in other plant parts, 39%. The proportion of net photosynthate translocated to the nodulated root decreased from 41 to 14% during growth. Developing fruits were major competitors for translocate. Nodules consumed 9% of the C from the plant9s total net photosynthate, 43% of which was respired, 6% made into dry matter, and 51% returned to the shoot with N fixation products. For every 1 g N fixed, net photosynthate equivalent to 6.8 g carbohydrate was consumed by nodules, 25.7 g carbohydrate by the nodulated root. Translocate was used most efficiently for N fixation in late vegetative growth when nodules were most active and their carbohydrate supply still adequate. During vegetative growth and early flowering (0 to 78 days after sowing) cowpea consumed 17.2 g net photosynthate (as carbohydrate) for every gram of protein synthesized in its shoot. The comparable conversion in seed production was 32.5 g net photosynthate/g seed protein or 6.6 g/g seed dry matter.

Significance of Photosynthetic and Respiratory Exchanges in the Carbon Economy of the Developing Pea Fruit

Abstract: The nutritional economy of the developing fruit of Pisum sativum L. (cv. Greenfeast) was studied in terms of intake of translocate, incorporation of C and N into dry matter, transpiration, and CO 2 exchanges of the fruit with its external and internal atmospheres. The environmental conditions were 12-hr days (22 C, 850 μeinsteins m −2 sec −1 at fruit level); 12-hr nights of 15 C. Between 6 and 30 days after anthesis, pod photosynthesis resulted in small gains of CO 2 from the external atmosphere, and assimilated most of the CO 2 respired by the fruit during the day. From then until maturity (40 days) the fruit lost CO 2 during the day. Night losses of CO 2 increased with fruit age. The gas cavity of the fruit contained 0.15 to 1.5% (v/v) CO 2 . Lower levels were maintained in the day than at night. CO 2 levels were influenced by fruit age, radiant flux, and temperature. Labeled CO 2 injected into the gas cavity was fixed by the pod but not by seeds in the light, and by neither pod nor seeds in darkness. Dark-to-light or light-to-dark transfer of a fruit promoted rapid changes in CO 2 and O 2 levels of the gas space, consistent with a shift in the assimilation-respiration balance of the pod. The fruit transpired 27.6 cm 3 H 2 O per gram dry matter accumulated. Daytime ventilation was greatest 12 to 15 days after anthesis and declined as pod photosynthesis became increasingly involved in the retrieval of CO 2 respired by pod and seeds. Most, 69% by weight, of the translocate from the parent plant was converted to dry matter of seeds; nearly half, 45%, to useful seed reserves (sugar plus starch-protein-oil, 45:20:1). Illumination resulted in a fruit requiring 16% less translocate than if laying down an equal amount of dry matter in darkness.

Best Procedures for Sample-Free Item Analysis.

Abstract: Wright's (1969) widely used "unconditional" pro cedure for Rasch sample-free item calibration is biased. A correction factor which makes the bias negligible is identified and demonstrated. Since this procedure, in spite of its superiority over "condi tional" procedures, is nevertheless slow at calibra ting 60 or more items, a simple approximation which produces comparable estimates in a few seconds is developed. Since no procedure works on data containing persons or items with infinite para meter estimates, an editing algorithm for preparing item response data for calibration is appended.

Long surface waves incident on a submerged horizontal plate

Abstract: A train of surface gravity waves of wavelength λ in a channel of depth H is incident on a horizontal plate of length l that is submerged to a depth c. Under the assumption that both λ and l are large compared with H, the method of matched asymptotic expansions is used to show that, to first order, the reflexion coefficient R and the transmission coefficient T are given by \[ R = \chi \left\{\frac{\sigma l}{(gH)^{\frac{1}{2}}}\sin\frac{\sigma l}{(gc)^{\frac{1}{2}}}-2\bigg(\frac{c}{H}\bigg)^{\frac{1}{2}}\bigg(1-\cos\frac{\sigma l}{(gc)^{\frac{1}{2}}}\bigg)\right\} \] and \[ T =\chi\left\{2i\left[\sin\frac{\sigma l}{(gc)^{\frac{1}{2}}}+\frac{\sigma l}{b}\bigg(\frac{c}{g}\bigg)^{\frac{1}{2}}\right]\right\} \] where \begin{eqnarray*} \chi &=& 1\left/ \left\{2\bigg(\frac{c}{H}\bigg)^{\frac{1}{2}}\bigg(1-\cos\frac{\sigma l}{(gc)^{\frac{1}{2}}}\bigg)+\frac{\sigma l}{b}\bigg(\frac{H}{g}\bigg)^{\frac{1}{2}}\bigg(1+\frac{c}{H}\bigg)\sin\frac{\sigma l}{(gc)^{\frac{1}{2}}}\right.\right.\\ &&\left. +2i\bigg(\sin\frac{\sigma l}{(gc)^{\frac{1}{2}}}+\frac{\sigma l}{b}\bigg(\frac{c}{g}\bigg)^{\frac{1}{2}}\cos\frac{\sigma l}{(gc)^{\frac{1}{2}}}\bigg)\right\}, \end{eqnarray*} σ is the angular frequency and g the acceleration due to gravity.

“Charles Stuart, That Man of Blood”*

Abstract: By 1648 in England many of parliament's supporters believed that peace was as far away as ever. The members of parliament who had declared they were fighting to rescue the king from the hands of his evil counsellors may have rethought their views about the personal responsibility of the king, but they still believed that the only viable settlement would be one based upon agreement between king and parliament. Consequently they had dispatched, with wearisome monotony, negotiators and messengers with propositions for peace to the king. Their initiatives were always destroyed in the last resort because Charles refused the terms offered, but apart from governing without him for the time being, the members of parliament could think of nothing else but a settlement based on agreement with Charles. The political thinking of the majorities in both Houses was bound by convention: a king was essential. Outside parliament, pamphleteers had questioned the importance of the king, but parliament's view was not seriously threatened until 1647 when it showed itself incapable of settling the kingdom and the Army showed a willingness to intervene in politics. The outbreak of the second Civil War in 1648 convinced the soldiers that parliament's policies of either seeking terms with the king or of ignoring him were alike futile and dangerous. So long as Charles remained alive, at the center of royalist hopes, so long would wars continue and lives be lost. At this point the Army spoke of the king in a new way.

Photosynthetic Pod Wall of Pea (Pisum sativum L.): Distribution of Carbon Dioxide-fixing Enzymes in Relation to Pod Structure.

Abstract: The pod wall of pea (Pisum sativum L.) was shown to contain two distinct photosynthetic layers. The outer, comprising chlorenchyma of the mesocarp, captured CO(2) from the outside atmosphere; the inner, a chloroplast-containing epidermis lining the pod gas cavity, was involved in photoassimilation of the CO(2) released from respiring seeds.Structural features of the pod included the thick cuticle and stomata of the outer epidermis, the inward projecting veinlets of the vascular network in the mesocarp, the sparsity of air spaces, the fiber and parenchyma layers of the endocarp, and the abundant chloroplasts, thin cuticle, and rounded outer contours of cells of the inner epidermis.The inner epidermis showed high specific activities of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate (RuDP) carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.39) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.31), contained up to 20% of the pod's chlorophyll, and was capable of fixing 66% of the CO(2) released during the photoperiod to the pod gas space by the seeds of a fully grown fruit.The in vitro carboxylation capacity of the pod exceeded the estimated gross photosynthesis of the fruit for all but the last few days of development. Chlorophyll content and carboxylation activity declined more markedly in the outer photosynthetic layers than in the inner epidermis.The ratio of activities of RuDP carboxylase to PEP carboxylase in pod extracts varied from 2.4:1 to 12:1 as against 48:1 to 156:1 in extracts of leaves.Structural and physiological properties of the pod were related to its capacity to conserve respired CO(2) and provide photosynthate to developing seeds.

Crystal Nucleation and Growth in Hydrolysing Iron(III) Chloride Solutions

Abstract: 0.5 molal iron(III) chloride solutions were hydrolysed at room temperature by base additions in the range OH/Fe mole ratio 0–2.75. After an ageing period the hydrolysed solutions were used to produce amorphous hydroxide gels from which crystalline products were grown at 65°C, at low pH or high pH. Examination of crystal composition and morphology and comparison with similarly treated nitrate solutions showed that the nucleation of hematite and goethite is inhibited in chloride containing solutions, which allow growth of small rod shaped β-FeOOH to predominate or occur exclusively in gels at pH 1–2. The addition of seed crystals of hematite and goethite allows competitive growth of all three minerals. The transformations β-FeOOH → α-Fe2O3 and β-FeOOH → α-FeOOH at pH 1–2 proceed by dissolution and reprecipitation and are promoted by adding seed crystals.

Conditional Versus Unconditional Procedures for Sample-Free Item Analysis:

Abstract: Two procedures for Rasch, sample-free, item calibration are reviewed and compared for accuracy. Andersen's (1972) theoretically ideal "conditional" procedure is impractical for calibrating more than 10 or 15 items. A simplified alternative procedure for conditional estimation practical for 20 or 30 items which produces equivalent estimates is developed. When more than 30 items are analyzed recourse to Wright's (1969) widely used "unconditional" procedure is inevitable but that procedure is biased. A correction factor which makes the bias negligible is identified and demonstrated.

Structural studies in the 1:1 copper(I) halide-pyridine base system

Abstract: The crystal structures of 1 : 1 adducts of cuprous iodide with collidine ICu(col) and 2,6-lutidine ICu(lut), and of cuprous chloride with pyridine ClCu(py), have been determined at 295 K and refined by full-matrix least squares to residuals of 0.052 [ICu(col)], 0.079 [ICu(lut)], 0.057 [ClCu(py)] for 465, 1761 and 720 ?observed? reflections respectively. Crystal data.-ICu(col), orthorhombic, P21mn, a 11.500(3), b 10.620(3), c 4.159(1) Ǻ, Z 2. ICu(lut), monoclinic, P21/c, a 16.377(9), b 7.833(3), c 15.401(8) Ǻ, β 110.53(4)°, Z 8. ClCu(py), monoclinic, P21, a 9.324(4), b 3.8484(7), c 8.663(4) Ǻ, β 107.08(3)°, Z 2. The 1 : 1 cuprous bromide-pyridine adduct BrCu(py) is isomorphous with ClCu(py): a 9.423(2), b 3.9585(6), c 8.907(2) Ǻ, β 108.13(2)°. In none of the three structures is the tetrameric (CuXL)4 species found. The structure of ICu(col) is an infinite zig-zag I-Cu-I-Cu- polymer running parallel to c; the copper is also coordinated by the collidine, Cu, I and N lying in the mirror y = 0.5 which also bisects the collidine ring. The structure of ICu(lut) comprises dimeric species, a pair of three-coordinated copper atoms being bridged by the two associated iodines. ClCu(py) has the ?ribbon? structure typified by CuCl,MeCN and CuBr,MeCN, an infinite polymer parallel to b. The inability of ICu(col) and ICu(lut) to form tetramers is attributed to steric hindrance of the methyl substituents of the base. The Cu-Cu distance in ICu(lut) is remarkably short (2.586 Ǻ).

Acoustic Orientation in the Cricket Teleogryllus Oceanicus (Le Guillou)

Abstract: New information is presented on acoustic orientation in crickets following a comparison between a species with a discontinuous song pattern, Scapsepidus maginatus (Murphey & Zaretsky, 1972) and one with a continuous song pattern, Teleogryllus oceanicus . The females acuity for side discrimination is ± 10° from the body axis whereas the total phonokinetic response shows a greater degree of error. Females can scan their turn angle to target angles beneath 60°. Erros is expressed in terms of information loss through the total behavioural sequence. The cricket does not orient while moving, requires no fixed leg position during the stop for effective orientation and can establish source direction on the basis of at least two syllables. Evidence of differential anterior and posterior tympanic membrane function is suggested.

Dividend Changes, Earnings Reports, And Share Prices: Some Australian Findings:

Abstract: Australian companies typically announce profit figures and dividend payouts at the same time. During the 60's and early 70's, profit and dividend changes were positively correlated, and were associated with significant share price changes, after abstracting from market effects. When profit and dividend reports gave conflicting signals, share prices tended to decline.

A developmental theory of environmental enrichment

Abstract: The differential brain development induced by sensory enrichment or deprivation is most apparent in rats with low brain weights. These differences are hypothesized to represent the retarded development of environment-dependent neurons in the isolated animals.

Relatively iron-rich lherzolite xenoliths of the Cr-diopside suite: A guide to the primary nature of anorogenic tholeiitic andesite magmas

Abstract: A relatively Fe-rich lherzolite xenolith (mg=79) in analcimite from Spring Mount, New South Wales, belongs to the Cr-diopside inclusion suite and accordingly may be assigned an accidental, upper mantle origin. More Mg-rich variants, transitional to the most common Cr-diopside xenoliths (mg=88–92), are also upper mantle components. The relative abundance of Mg-rich xenoliths may reflect factors controlling xenolith preservation in higher temperature lavas. Significant inhomogeneity with respect to Mg/Fe is indicated for the upper mantle, thereby greatly expanding the spectrum of possible primary melts. The abundance of ‘evolved’ volcanics in continental flood ‘basalt’ provinces in considered in terms of this proposal. Least squares mixing calculations suggest that anorogenic tholeiitic andesites may represent primary magmas in their own right, formed by partial melting of relatively Fe-rich lherzolite.